Alcuin take the spoils at College Sports Day

Alcuin College were crowned as the College Sports Day champions after an exciting day of fixtures on 22 Acres. Derwent had dominated the competition over the past two years, but the Owls came out in force on Wednesday by finishing in the top three for most events whilst winning the men’s crosscountry and the tug of war.

The first results of the day came in the cross country, with Vanbrugh taking maximum points in the women’s race thanks to a strong display from their team as a whole, despite Alcuin’s Grace Clarke crossing the line first. James were second, followed by Alcuin, Langwith, and Derwent.

Things were more straightforward in the men’s race, an Alcuin one-two-three from Frank Flight, Sam Birks, and Alex Lusty handing the Owls a well-deserved 10 points. Langwith took five points for a second place finish, with Derwent picking up six in third spot.

The women’s 100m race was won by Goodricke’s Emma Rickard, who told Nouse afterwards, “I’m a bit surprised, I probably haven’t done that [the 100m] since Year 8! I’ve been playing netball but maybe I should switch sports!”

Halifax claimed their long-awaited first points of the afternoon with victory in the men’s 100m, but after the scores from the egg and spoon race were added it was Vanbrugh in an overall lead with 30 points, four ahead of Alcuin, with Fax, Derwent and James all lagging well behind on 10, 11, and 12 respectively.

A couple of closely fought three-legged races were won by Alcuin in the women’s, narrowly edging out the Derwent pair, and Langwith in the men’s event, who triumphed by a relatively comfortable margin over Vanbrugh and Goodricke. The varying methods in which legs were tied together did come under question as organisers failed to decide on whether a bandage, celotape or simply miming (in Derwent’s case) were acceptable in such a prolific event.

That meant that after six events Vanbrugh retained their overall lead on 43 points, being chased by Alcuin on 40, Langwith on 37, with a gap back too Goodricke on 28 and Derwent on 25, James with 18, and Halifax still on 10.

Alcuin remained dominant in the tug of war whilst they were also impressive in the volleyball; in a closely-fought volleyball final, James came out on top of Alcuin with a score of 25-19.

James were the only side not to taste defeat in the Ultimate tournament as they won each of their five games, beating Wentworth 8-0 and Alcuin 14-0 on their travels. Vanbrugh and Langwith failed to submit teams to the sport this year, whilst Alcuin failed to pick up a single point during their campaign.

In the final event of the day, both Langwith and Derwent defeated Vanbrugh and Alcuin respectively to make it through to the rounders final. However, after actually having to play two games, both teams realised that they were inseperable and level in every way in the Old Firm College derby, and so both teams decided to share the points.

Image: James Hostford

However, in the biggest clash of the titans, Dan Holland easily overcame a flummoxed Tom Fennelly, who looked well out of his comfort zone on the epic inter-Nouse inflatable assault course challenge, with Holland completing the course in over half the time of his opponent.